I am currently a mixed bag of beliefs.
Barack Obama spoke on campus yesterday. On one hand, I adore the man. I read his autobiography, “Dreams from my Father,” and fell in love with his character, his vision, and, since he wrote the book before really getting into politics, his capability to say whatever he wanted about his past, even the not so pretty stuff.
But I’m not so sure I like the Barack Obama who spoke at UW-Madison yesterday. I wasn’t able to go to the rally, since the line to see him extended, literally, for miles. But I did see his speech on television and it made me feel sick. Where was the man I loved? All he spoke about was what Republicans were doing wrong, how they wanted to cut taxes for the rich, step all over the working man, pillage villages and eat babies. I recognize that it was a rally /for/ the democratic party, but still – where was the man who spoke about the integration of parties? Where was the man who wanted cooperation from all sides of government? Couldn’t he still have promoted the democratic party without slinging mud at the republicans?
What’s more, he never gave examples of what /he/ was going to do. What actual plans the democratic had. It was all just “progress” and “change” but there was no context. It didn’t /mean/ anything. And even though he said he was working on making good on his original campaign promises, I can’t say I know what they are. After all, one of his goals was to facilitate bi-partisanship cooperation, but apparently he isn’t big on that right now.
When he finally did say some broad goals, I found myself infuritated. Particularly when he said he was going to work at creating jobs, “in the United States of America.”
When are people going to GET it?
I’m all for nationalism. I don’t think anyone could say I’m not a patriot. I believe in the American way of life and I believe we have a fantastic country. But I think we are all such a bumble-fuck of arrogance we can’t even see straight. That being said, I’m not sure there are many other countries in the world that are less arrogant than us, but I disgress. When are poeple going to see that a JOB in a JOB no matter where it is? When will they realize that China pulling ahead of the United States in GDP doesn’t matter? There isn’t one pie of wealth. By China getting richer, we aren’t getting poorer. We all have the capability to become better without harming the people around us.
What is the con to an American company outsourcing a manufacturing plant to China? American workers wouldn’t participate in the working of that factory, likely an American company wouldn’t be building it, etc. There’s probably more, but those are, I think the main ones people come up with.
What are the pros to an Americna company outsourcing a manufacturing plant to China? I think I might need a bulleted list for this one.
- The American company, assuming they assessed the opportunity correctly, prospers.
– As the company does well they, theoretically, can pay their workers better. Or at least increase the wealth of their stockholders if they are a public company.
– Because the cost of labor is cheaper, they are likely able to sell their product at a lower price. Let’s say the item they product is a “necessity”. American consumers are able to purchase this product at the lower price, therefore increasing their overall household spending income.
– It is highly likely that jobs were created in America to facilitate this process. Many years were spend reseraching the opportunity, creating the game plan, and executing it. What’s more, many managerial level jobs – the kinds Americans want – were created to manage the plant both here and abroad.
- In China, the Chinese worker prospers with an income they wouldn’t otherwise have (yes, this IS a pro. Again, there is not just one pie of wealth).
– This Chinese worker now has a higher income. They can buy and invest in more products. Beause many American businesses have their products in the Chinese market, this Chinese worker is likely to purchase an American product and increase an American company’s wealth.
– In general, this Chinese worker is /better off/. But I suppose it’s possible that we don’t give a rat’s ass about him because he’s Chinese, so this pro might be negated. But we can assume that since he’s not /worse off/ and because most people aren’t EVIL, it’s at least not a con.
- Because the American company is manufacturing their product in China, the likelihood is that they have decided to sell their product there as well. By becoming a part of the Chinese market they are suddenly opening themselves up to billions of potential buyers. And since they are employing some of those Chinese citizens, it’s likely that those Chinese will buy their products and increase the company’s wealth.
– This will AGAIN increase the wealth in the United States, likely to increase incomes for American workers and/or the wealth of the stockholders.
Okay, so you might not agree with all of this. But don’t worry – I have more. Have we thought about how many companies, FOREIGN companies, are currently employing United States citizens? I’m not so sure we truly understand just how many jobs are created FOR US by FOREIGNERS.
Let me take ten seconds to name off some companies that I know I foreign: BP, Nestle, Toyota, L’Oreal, Nokia. Okay, my ten seconds are up. You can probably name more. What does this mean? That we live in a global economy and that when it comes to improving wealth, things like nation’s borders just don’t matter. So many of us, myself included, believe in the concept of a free market economy. But when people really start thinking about what that means, that true competition is going to force business outside of the United States, we want to pull in, we want to support ourselves, which is in of itself a socialist idea.
And even with all this, all of these reasons for why its good for business, why it doesn’t hurt Americans economically, I don’t even think that’s really the point. For me the point is that we are all PEOPLE. And regardless of our nationality, we should want people to prosper. We shouldn’t be pissed off that Mexicans are making money within our borders – we should be happy for their improvement of life. People want the quality of living to go up in rural Asia, but they don’t want to do it if it maybe, possible, might take away a job here (which, I don’t believe it does). People pretend to care about people, but they really don’t. When are we going to learn that we’re all the same, we’re just born elsewhere? We might believe different things and hold different practices but that doesn’t mean that some people are better than other people.
So many of us wonder how/why foriegners hate Americans. There’s so much anger, people want to kill us – for what? So many of us sit around and wonder why but don’t make the connection that we have the same exact feelings. We don’t understand them, we do everything we can to make sure that we are the ones prospering, not them. We don’t like their practices, we don’t like the way they live, heck – many of us downright hate them and yet – somehow we’re better? What, because we don’t actually want to kill them? In my mind, I don’t see a very thick line between hate to hate and hate to kill. Can’t we make a better world just by caring a little more about /people/?
It just makes me sad. I don’t understand how people just can’t see the big picture. So many Americans go abroad and are frustrated by an inability to work, by getting caught up in red tape, by needing a visa for this, a visa for that. Can’t we see that we do the same exact thing?
I think the problem is that I ultimately still believe what’s written on that Statue of Liberty by Emma Lazarus. – “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” This is the kind of mindset I want America to have about progress – for it to be about ourselves, let it first be about others.
